


A Natural Gift

by apple_pi



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Post-Quest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 07:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6972331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple_pi/pseuds/apple_pi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ah, Legolas, it's an Elvish gift, isn't it?" The muted clamor of a crowded night at the Green Dragon washed over them, and Merry downed the last of his third (or was it fourth?) half-pint of the evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Natural Gift

"You miss Frodo."

"Ah, Legolas, it's an Elvish gift, isn't it?" The muted clamor of a crowded night at the Green Dragon washed over them, and Merry downed the last of his third (or was it fourth?) half-pint.

"What is?" 

Merry blinked up at him. "Elrond had it, too. 'The Ring is evil.' 'You'll all be in danger.' 'Doom! Doom!'"

Pippin, seated across from them between Gimli and Sam, was almost ready to climb onto the table, judging by his cheerful, ale-soaked grin and the way he was bouncing on his bench, talking animatedly to them: "Sounds like the start of a perfect joke, doesn't it?" Merry lost the thread of their conversation as Legolas spoke again.

"You are drunk," Legolas said, and Merry grinned and poked him in the chest. He wanted to poke him in the nose, but Legolas was too tall, even bent practically double to sit at the too-small tables in the Green Dragon.

"You prove my point. So. Well." Poke. Poke. Poke.

"What is your point?" Legolas furrowed his brow, and Merry would have laughed if he hadn't felt suddenly slightly ill. 

"Three hobbits, an Elf and a Dwarf walk into a tavern," Pippin was saying.

Merry laid his head on the table and closed his eyes. "Elves, you all have this gift," he murmured. Legolas was bending over him, concerned. 

"Are you going to be sick?"

"Nnuh." Merry's head was vibrating a bit, and he vaguely heard Pippin singing. "M'fine." He tilted his head up and opened his eyes and saw Pippin's feet a few inches away. Yep. On the table.

"But what's the punchline?" Gimli was shouting over the chatter and clapping around them, and Merry could hear Sam's laughter.

"What gift do I have, Merry?" Legolas sounded less concerned now. More amused. Merry turned his head again and opened one eye to peer upward at the Elf.

"The obvious."

"What?" Legolas laid his own head on the table, facing Merry and coming into sharp focus.

"You have a gift for stating the obvious, my dear Elven friend," said Merry, speaking clearly with an effort.

"Ah." Legolas smiled, then glanced apprehensively up at Pippin's stamping feet. "Is he going to step on us?"

"No," said Merry. "Chances are he'll--"

Pippin gave a shout and the feet vanished in a rather haphazard manner; there was a crash and a roar of laughter. "There's your punchline, Gimli," called Sam's breathless voice, and then they could hear Pippin's high-pitched complaint: "My head! Ow ow ow!" and Gimli's reply: "Lucky it was your head, considering how hard it is, ha ha ha!"

"See?" Merry looked Legolas again.

"I see." Legolas made a face. "The table is a bit sticky," he said. "Against my cheek."

"Are you trying to do it, now?" Merry smiled at him.

Legolas grinned. "No, sorry. It's a natural gift, what can I say."

They lay there looking at each other and smiling, listening as Pippin and Gimli and Sam resettled at the table across from them, apparently uninterested in Merry and Legolas's unorthodox seating arrangement. 

Merry's smile faded and he closed his eyes again, relaxing into the noise and heat and smoke-smell of the tavern. "Yes, we miss him."

He felt Legolas's breath against his face as the Elf sighed. "Me, too."


End file.
